The first release candidate of Mandriva Linux 2008, codenamed Copernic, is now available. The release notes are available here. A guide to major new features (some of which are not yet implemented in this release candidate) is available here, and the detailed technical specifications are available here. This release candidate is available as a three CD or one DVD Free edition (containing no non-free software or drivers) for the x86-32 and x86-64 architectures, with a traditional installer, and as a mini-CD edition for both x86-32 and x86-64 architectures. A One combined live/install CD edition will be released in the near future (problems with unionfs prevented the One edition from being release at the same time as the other editions).

I used mandrake as my first linux distro and used it for many years. I have fond memories of 8.2, but unfortunately I think not long after that I switched to suse and was very impressed.
I've since used kubuntu but am now again using opensuse and have decided that it will be staying on my system for a lot longer...

I think what I didn't like about mandrake was its lack of polish. Too many broken apps (maybe too new?) and just a bit rough around the edges. It was actually quite a good OS, but not good enough to be the best (not for me anyway).

But a big thing I didn't like was how different it was from the others. My suggestion for mandriva is to make their linux more mainstream, so that switching from another distro is seamless and so there is nothing new to get used to.
The other big thing is overall polish. It needs to work smoothly for all common tasks like web/multimedia/office etc.

I'm not trying to criticize when I mention this, but have a look at opensuse and you'll see what I mean by a very tidy and polished distro. You dont need to match all the features, just the quality.

Of the major RPM distros, it's actually more accurate to say that Fedora and Mandriva are quite similar and SUSE is rather different from both. SUSE is the oddball in that set. For an example, try comparing the spec file for a simple application (say gedit) in Mandriva, SUSE, and Fedora.

And honestly, if you switched shortly after 8.2, then you're not very qualified to talk about current Mandriva - after all, we've done...9 releases since then, and 2008 will be the 10th. It's a completely different distribution, really. Give 2008 a try and see if it's different from your recollections.

Hmm.. I have used Mandriva from version 7.x (alright - it was called Mandrake in those days). I made de switch from SuSe 6.x (or something) to Mandrake in those days.

I kept my eye on other distributions and was very impressed to see the development Linux in general made through the years..

I tried many other distro's like Fedora, SuSe, Ubuntu/Kubuntu, StartCom, Debian, Gentoo, PCLinuxOS and many others (even LFS).

Still - I keep Mandriva on my main computer (2007.1 at this moment). The other distros's just don't give me that combination of being complete but easy to configure yourself. There is always seem to be something missing in other distro's thats "standard" in the default setup of Mandriva..

You talking about SuSe, but to be earnest - I think nowadays it's a slow working distro. It's not responsive and the software manager is really a pain to use (although I heard the upcoming version this has been taken care of). I have tested SuSe and really liked version 9.2, but after that it went downhill. Maybe the coming release will be better, but I don't hold my breath..

Madriva 2007.1 is something completely different than the old Mandrake 8.2. I would suggest you give it a try..

I will be testing Mandriva 2008 RC1 after downloading. I was already impressed by the early beta versions, but I think it's time to do a little bit of testing on a free partition of my main computer. Nothing wrong with a little bug-hunting (if any) now and then ;-).

I would suggest you try the same thing (on a spare computer if you are afraid to break things) or try the latest 2007.1 otherwise. Don't justice Mandriva by looking back to a really old version like 8.2 like I said before..

Sorry about my English - it's not my native language (and no - I'm not French :-)..

Sorry about my English - it's not my native language (and no - I'm not French :-)..

No need to apologies, your English is very good and easy to understand.

My main desktop was Mandrake, and later Mandriva, back in the day but I fell out of interest for me, for various reasons. I've been waiting for a good release for a while now to get back into using what for me has always been a fantastic distro. Maybe it's time I gave a hand and helped out?